Shortly after a student newspaper introduced a sex column, the administration announced a policy of prior of review for the paper. FIRE and the Student Press Law Center protested this unconstitutional policy. The administration then retracted its proposed policy and affirmed the First Amendment rights of student journalists on its campus.

Other unlawful harassment involving an employee or student may consist of verbal or physical conduct that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual because of his or her race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, disability, or other legally protected status, or that of his or her relatives, friends, or associates, and has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or educational environment; has the purpose or effect of interfering unreasonably with an individual's work or academic performance; or otherwise adversely affects an individual's employment or educational opportunities.

Institutions of higher education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interest of either the individual teacher or the institution as a whole. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. An educated citizenry is the key to the continual improvement of society.

Academic freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. It is essential to foster a spirit of inquiry within the institution where ideas may be examined in an atmosphere of freedom and confidence. Along with academic freedom comes responsibility.

The purpose of this Campus Access and Facility Use Policy is to provide information to employees, students, and members of the public about the College's means of protecting freedom of speech and association in those areas of College premises that are open to public expression, in a manner that is consistent with the College's goal of providing educational opportunities in an environment that is conducive to learning.

Sex isn’t Scott Ralls’ problem anymore. It’s been a problem for the previous four months. Ralls is president of Craven Community College in New Bern, where in March a column offering tips on how to “jolt tired sex lives” was published in the campus newspaper, to the dismay of some readers. But Ralls expects the sex problem to end this week — whereupon he can tend to more typical campus needs, such as making sure there’s not enough parking or seeing that political correctness is rigidly enforced. Note to Ralls: I’m teasing, Scott. I tease because I love. Actually, I […]

Yesterday, the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) reported the August 4 decision by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) to censure a community college in New Jersey for violating freedom of the press. Ocean Community College (OCC) has already been censured by the College Media Advisers, Inc. (CMA), a national organization that advocates for best practices among college media outlets. According to the SPLC, the AEJMC passed the resolution of censure following the OCC Board of Trustees’ December decision not to renew student newspaper advisor Karen Bosley’s contract. Bosley’s “offense” was allowing the newspaper […]

The number of battles FIRE has had to fight in North Carolina is staggering. Even before our recent (and victorious) headline-grabbing case at UNC Greensboro, we have defended embattled professors at UNC Wilmington, Shaw University, Forsyth Technical Community College, and Duke University; two Christian groups at UNC Chapel Hill; a student newspaper under attack at Craven Community College; and red-light speech codes across the state. The place clearly needs help, and that is exactly what FIRE is trying to give it. Last month, we (along with the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy) released the landmark Report on […]

FIRE’s press release from yesterday details some of the cases that made 2005 FIRE’s busiest year ever. If 2005 made anything clear, it is that no student, regardless of his or her views, is safe from censorship on today’s college and university campuses. This year, we intervened on behalf of students censored for expressing viewpoints spanning the political spectrum: Seminole Community College in Florida refused to allow a student to distribute literature from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. After FIRE intervened, the college changed course and allowed the student to distribute her literature. Northeastern Illinois University decided to […]

NEW BERN, N.C., June 22, 2005—In a victory for freedom of the student press, North Carolina’s Craven Community College has agreed to respect the independence of its student newspaper, The Communicator. Reacting to controversy over a short-lived sex column, Craven had initially (and erroneously) claimed the college was “not authorized to provide its students an independent and open forum,” and had been considering granting prior editorial review of the paper to college administrators. But thanks to protests from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC), Craven now affirms its students’ First Amendment […]